Chapter 326
Chapter 326
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 326
Chapter Title: Chapter 8-1. The Land of the Beastkin, Reillysa.
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The elves had left. Sellion seemed lost in thought, perhaps because of what the elf had said. Judah let out a sigh as he watched her standing there blankly.
It was a shame, but it looked like their herb and mushroom gathering would have to end here.
'Oh, right. I should have asked for directions.'
He had been heading toward Reillysa based on rough guesses from the , so he didn't know the exact location. But chasing after the elf now to ask for directions would embarrass Sellion. She had clearly said they weren't needed.
It would work out somehow.
No matter which way they went, as long as they reached their destination.
Judah scratched his head and looked down at the token he was still holding.
'I wonder if we wouldn't have been attacked if I'd carried this openly instead of in the <Bag>?'
Probably. Judah slipped the token into the pocket of his coat and placed a hand on Sellion's shoulder. She glanced at him.
"Let's head back. It's about time everyone wakes up."
"Yes."
She answered immediately. Sellion followed a step behind Judah, staring blankly at his back. Strangely, he could feel her gaze even though he didn't have eyes in the back of his head.
Judah turned around with a wry smile. Sellion flinched visibly and shifted her eyes a beat late.
"Got something to say?"
"No."
"Then did you commit some sin you can't confess?"
"...No."
"But why are you following behind? Why not walk beside me? The path is wide enough."
"Is that okay?"
"There's no reason it wouldn't be."
Judah chuckled as he watched her blush like a shy maiden mustering her courage to stand beside him. Her reaction made him want to tease her. It would be nice to walk side by side, but this time they were two steps apart in stride. When Judah moved closer, she retreated the same distance. He reached out his hand at her evasive behavior.
"Ah!"
"What are you so shy about? Come here."
He had no idea where the charismatic woman who'd faced the elf had gone. When he grabbed her wrist and pulled, Sellion blushed and bowed her head deeply.
They walked back to where the group was sleeping without much conversation. Iris and Arhil, excluding Lime, were still fast asleep, oblivious to the world.
They were sleeping soundly, wriggling and making happy noises, while Lime was preparing breakfast. He approached Judah, who had returned empty-handed, still wearing his apron.
"Were you looking for something?"
It seemed like he was asking about stamina-boosting herbs. Unfortunately, though there were plenty of rare herbs, he hadn't found any like wild ginseng for vitality. Lime openly showed his disappointment when Judah shook his head.
"Well, something that precious wouldn't appear just like that."
"We'll be walking through the forest for the next few days, so I'll keep trying. And take this for now."
Judah opened his <Bag> and handed over two bundles of the long grass leaves he'd gathered generously.
"This is?"
"You know chives, right?"
Lime nodded at Judah's question. Chives were one of the things he ate often because someone said they were good for stamina.
"It's got the same effect, but probably two or three times stronger."
"Oh ho?"
Lime looked intrigued. Judah explained how to eat it while helping him prepare breakfast. Once it was ready, he woke the sleeping group. He smiled at Arhil rubbing her eyes sleepily and saying good morning, and Iris bowing her head, then they began eating.
Perhaps because they had just woken up and weren't hungry, the girls except Sellion only picked at their food. But it tasted good, so they didn't leave any behind.
The leftovers went straight into Lime's sub-space for lunch and dinner. After packing up and fully extinguishing the campfire embers, they set off again.
He didn't mention meeting the elves at dawn, getting attacked by them, or learning a bit about Reillysa.
Since learning that the current king of Reillysa was her father, Sellion had followed silently, lost in thought.
Thanks to their leisurely pace with rests, they exited the forest about a week later. During that time, they gathered herbs and mushrooms diligently every dawn. Luckily, he even found a few stamina-boosting herbs that Lime desperately wanted. At first, he planned to give them all away, but since Judah was a man too, he kept all but one for Lime carefully in his <Bag>.
He thought he might consume them later or package them nicely as a gift for someone. There probably wasn't a man in the world who hated stamina boosters, so it would be good for gaining favor.
And while traversing the forest, they encountered elves once more. It wasn't intentional; it really seemed coincidental.
They were different from the elves Sellion had met before. They approached her in surprise, but grew wary upon seeing the human Judah, Arhil, Iris, and Lime.
However, perhaps sensing the tokens Judah and Arhil carried, one cautiously approached to verify, and afterward, the elves smiled kindly at the group except Sellion, despite them being human.
They greeted Sellion politely, saying they were glad she had returned safely, that they hadn't expected her to be alive, and asked if she needed any help.
Judah asked to confirm if this direction led to Reillysa, and fortunately, it did.
After thanking them for the directions and parting ways, they warned to be careful of black magicians or magical beasts along the path.
But in reality, during their journey, they hadn't seen so much as a shadow of a black magician, let alone magical beasts. The trip felt almost boring in its peacefulness.
"Hmm. Do you think a black magician will really show up around here? In such an open area?"
Arhil brought up the elf's warning as she walked, gazing at the vast plains stretching endlessly after leaving the forest.
"Who knows? If they have business, they'll appear. But the image that comes to mind with black magicians is..."
"A robe in dark colors with a sinister aura?"
"Yeah."
Maybe like Viscount Jinmu from Calypso long ago, dragging around specters. Anyway, if such a black magician appeared nearby, they'd spot them quickly in this wide-open terrain.
But if they had any brains, they wouldn't show themselves in a place like this. As they walked, Iris tapped Judah's shoulder from behind and held out her notepad.
-From here, there's a suspicious figure on the hill to the left. If my eyes aren't deceiving me, he's wearing a white robe with flower patterns and has wild, unkempt hair.
Judah turned his gaze after reading the note. As Iris said, far away on a grassy hill, a mage in a white robe was digging the ground with a shovel. The distance was too great to make out his face clearly; only his bushy hair and robe were visible.
He stabbed the shovel into the ground as if finishing a rewarding task and wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve. And it seemed the mage had spotted Judah's group too.
"...Lime, is it common for mages to wear robes with flowers on them?"
"No way. Unless they're crazy. They usually just have their magic tower's emblem on the back; nothing flashy like that..."
Even from afar, he seemed to be hiding his mana completely, so it was hard to tell if he was a black magician. But digging up the hill alone with a shovel looked extremely suspicious.
"Shall we go check it out?"
He didn't want any trouble brewing in Reillysa, which they were about to visit, so if possible, he wanted to resolve it here.
But before Judah's group could approach the flower-patterned robe mage on the hill, he cast magic much faster.
"What!? Spatial transfer magic that quickly?"
Lime exclaimed in shock. In an instant, the distant mage appeared before Judah's group.
Judging by appearance was hasty, but he really looked suspicious. His clothes, hairstyle, expression, and behavior all invited doubt.
"For that arrogant beastkin to be with humans—surprising. And from the looks of it, not as a slave. Intriguing. Who are you lot?"
He tilted his head about 45 degrees sideways, observing Judah's group with curiosity.
"Then who are you?"
"Me? Just a mage who came here on business."
He leaned on the shovel in his hand. Then, as if rethinking his own words, he tilted his head and muttered something incomprehensible. Judah followed up with another question as he watched.
"Are you the black magician the elves mentioned?"
"Huh? Elves? What did the elves say about me? What did they say? Oh, I'm really curious now. It's been ages since I heard someone else's opinion of me; my heart's racing."
"Not the kind of praise you'd hope for. They said you were burying magic stones engraved with creepy, suspicious spells in the ground."
He furrowed his brow in disappointment at Judah's words.
"Ugh, see? This is why elves are no good. That was magic taught by the noble dragon race themselves, and they call it creepy and suspicious. Savages! Tsk tsk.